Culture of continuous improvement helps Toro target professional markets

5 Jun, 2008 By: Marty Whitford LM Direct!

BLOOMINGTON, MN — The quality assurance (QA) demands of Hanes’ Inspector 12 might be world-renowned thanks to the company’s TV commercials, but Bloomington-based Toro Co. one-ups them daily. In fact, Toro designs, tests and manufactures its turf maintenance and irrigation solutions as if they’re about to be shipped to Dr. Seuss Landscape Co. and ridden hard, around the clock, by Thing 1 and Thing 2.


Toro CEO Michael Hoffman

Dozens of Green Industry reporters witnessed Toro’s culture of continuous improvement firsthand on May 6, while receiving a tour of the company’s Bloomington manufacturing plant and proving grounds as part of Toro’s “Innovation at its Roots” Media Day.

Whether Toro is subjecting its professional lawnmowers’ blades to nails, metal pellets or even inch-thick pieces of steel pipe, the goal is always to meet and exceed safety standards while delivering the performance and durability professionals demand and deserve, said tour director and Toro test manager Tom Breiter.

Continuous improvement based on relentless testing and constant customer feedback represents the very fabric of Toro’s corporate culture, President & CEO Michael Hoffman said. It also underlines the company’s commitment to the professional market.

“In 1990, the professional market represented just 41% of Toro’s revenue, but last year 69% of our nearly $1.9 billion in sales stemmed from professional markets,” said Hoffman, noting sales to professional landscape contractors and grounds maintenance crews accounted for 35% of Toro’s 2007 revenue.

Spending more than $60 million on research and development in fiscal 2007, Toro is deeply rooted in innovation, Hoffman said.

“This year, new products will account for a larger percentage of our total revenue than perhaps ever before,” Hoffman added. “Our goal is to accelerate our future.”

Innovation central


CATT Director Dana Lonn

Touching on another milestone reached, Toro’s Center for Advanced Turf Technology (CATT) – a cross-functional innovation team of engineers and agronomists dedicated to developing cutting-edge turf care technologies — is celebrating its 10 anniversary this year. CATT Director Dana Lonn said the Center already has helped advance the Green Industry in a number of the areas, including:

Water Management

Soil moisture sensing to know precisely how much moisture is in the soil to apply water where and when it’s needed — no more, no less. “The soil is very much like the fuel tank in your car — it’s the reservoir,” Lonn added.
Helping turf managers quickly and efficiently analyze site conditions including soil types, topography and irrigation effectiveness, so they can make better watering decisions.
Reflectance sensing to measure the health of plant photosynthesis, helping detect turf stress from over and under watering, and disease and insect pressure prior to the effects being visible to the human eye.

Alternative Fuels

Toro is several years deep into the testing of various alternative fuel sources including hybrid, advanced-battery technology and hydrogen fuel cells.
A partnership with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation has resulted in the deployment of hydrogen fuel cells to power Toro Workman utility vehicles at Niagara Falls State Park.

Labor Productivity

The Center is constantly working to identify new ways to help our customers use labor more efficiently. For example, Toro’s innovative ProCore 648 walking aerator provides significant time and labor savings.

“Abraham Maslow said, ‘If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail,’ Lonn concluded. “ A new product can’t just be a hammer looking for a nail. True innovation solves customers problems.”

On the grow


Sandy Meurlot, vice president of operations

Sandy Meurlot, the company’s vice president of operations, said companies such as Toro that embrace lean practices can capture 25% to 75% improvements in efficiency and waste reduction.

“To be lean you have to know and focus on what is needed and when it is needed, and use the absolute minimum resources to get there,” Meurlot said.

Meurlot said Toro is growing steadily — despite the company and other Green Industry suppliers facing a host of mounting challenges, including increased global competitiveness, rising material costs, a shrinking pool of skilled workers and greater demands in the areas of supply chain flexibility and global regulatory compliance.

“And we’re committed to ‘giving back’ to the community — to the tune of more than $15 million over the past 10 years — in good times and bad,” said Judson Tharin, manager of the Toro Giving Program.

Rick Rodier, GM of Toro’s landscape contractor business, said Toro has developed a new stand-on mower featuring patent-pending suspension for the platform, which is designed to fold up so the machine can double as a walk-behind for tight spaces and sharp inclines.

What’s the new mower’s brand name? You tell us.

“We’ll be having a ‘name it and claim it,’ contest for our stand-on mower,” Rodier added.

Rodier also discussed Toro’s new:

TRX Walk-Behind Trenchers (TRX-15 and TRX-19) featuring dual-track drives for superior stability and Dingo TX controls for reduced operator fatigue;
Dingo TX 525 Diesel Compact Utility Loaders outfitted with 25-hp Kubota diesel engines;
Biodiesel-ready Toro Z Master Zero-Turn Riding Mowers (Z580-D and Z590-D Series); and
Returnable steel crates for mowers.


Michael Happe, GM of Toro’s Commercial Equipment Division

Michael Happe, GM of Toro’s Commercial Equipment Division, noted that the grounds market offers an attractive growth avenue as federal, educational, municipal and professional markets expand their green spaces.

Happe spotlighted Toro’s latest sports fields and grounds innovations: 16-ft. Groundmaster 5900 Series Rotary Mowers; zero-turn Groundmaster 7200/7210 Rotary Mowers that convert from mow to snow machines with the patent-pending POLAR TRAC system; Infield Pro 3040 and 5040 models with up to 21 attachments; Pro Force Debris Blower featuring a nozzle that rotates 360 degrees; and Line Painter 1200 offering the onboard Express Clean System.

July is Smart Irrigation Month, but Phil Burkhart, VP and GM of Toro’s irrigation businesses, said limited water supplies, soaring costs and spreading droughts are prompting professionals to take an “every day is a water smart day” approach to business.


Phil Burkhart, VP and GM of Toro’s irrigation businesses


Toro's new stand-on mower


Toro's mowers on a 30-degree slope test

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